The Cardinal

With her red knit hat pulled snuggly over her ears and Skipper, her sprite scruffy mutt at her feet, they set off together into the woods. Each tall footstep into the new snow left exaggerated tracks behind her as Skipper bounced in uninhibited zigzag delight - ahead, beside and behind Jenny, dragging his soft pink belly across the top of the snow. The snow seemed a bit deep for this time of year, but she quickly heard her grandfather's voice recite one of his life lessons, "The snow is never early nor late; it's always the way God and Mother Nature intended."

The two continued in peaceful silence, walking through the tall stand of Aspens, past the granite rock ledge and just down the hill to her favorite south-facing clearing. As if in a grand hurry, a bright red cardinal flitted past them, darting through the trees and landing on a pine branch to curiously observe the two.

"Well Skipper", Jenny said to her companion at her feet, "perhaps this is a sign. Let's take a look at the tree that Cardinal seems partial to". As they approached the tree, the Cardinal shifted to a higher branch and let out a happy little trill.

"It might be a bit too tall, but we can take some off the bottom when we get back to the house. What do you think Skipper?"

Skipper let out a yip in agreement just as the Cardinal let out a pint-sized squawk, and it was unanimously decided. Jenny knelt down, and with her gloved right hand, she gripped the worn, smooth handle of her grandfather's handsaw and began cutting the tree at the base.

It took precisely 28 passes of the saw, and the tree tilted and softly plopped its green branches into the snow. Jenny secured the saw's handle to a short piece of rope tied at her waist, grabbed the middle of the tree with both hands and said, "Let's take her home, Skipper!"

As a cold dusk settled outside, the loan Cardinal sat contentedly on a bare limb, watching over the small home. Fire from inside flickered a warm light out the pane windows, a bushy tree covered in lights stood proudly in the corner, and one tired little dog was fast asleep at Jenny's feet.

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[photo by me - story is fictional - and I’m sorry there’s no Cardinal in this photo, those little guys are difficult to capture]